'Hidden faces' of Palm Beach County schools hold rally

Non-instructional school workers rally

SEIU

SEIU

Karen Yi, Sun Sentinel

The hidden faces of Palm Beach County's schools came out Monday morning to demand respect and fair treatment at their jobs.

They're the custodians, cafeteria workers and non-instructional employees in the district that keep the schools up and running. But they say they want the school district to implement a district-wide management approach so all employees have the same treatment across the board.

"One worker may have to work jobs of 4-5 different workers, a custodian may be asked to do stuff he’s not supposed to do," said Afifa Khaliq, spokesperson for SEIU Florida Public Services Union, that represents the more than 6,000 non-instructional employees in the district.

She said currently, each school manages non-instructional employees without any uniformity.

More than 40 union members rallied Monday in front of Palm Beach Gardens High School, asking the school district to come up with a unified management policy. They wore white masks on their faces, symbolizing how they are often left out of the decision-making process.

She said the union plans to submit a letter to the school district later this week outlining their specific demands for the policy.

In a statement, the district said:

"We value all of our employees and work hard to maintain good relationships with them at all of our schools. We were pleased to be able to provide all of our employees a pay raise this year, and we will continue to meet with these employees and their representatives to address their concerns."